The top priced lot in the sale, held at Christie's auctioneers in the British capital, was an abstract artwork by Ben Nicholson which sold for $1.4 million (£1 million), three times its estimated price.

Plates made by art icon Pablo Picasso sold for between $4,528 (£3,250) and $11,320 (£8,125) each, while the Grand Piano, which the British rocker used to compose three of his albums, sold for $162,100 (£116,500).

The auction raised around $4 million in total.

Feb102016

Prince Sold Out In Under 10 Minutes

Tickets for Prince’s upcoming concerts at the Sydney Opera House sold out in under ten minutes.

Ticketek Australia’s managing director Cameron Hoy said they were allocated under 1500 tickets to sell for the opera house performances, which then sold out in under ten minutes.

Disgruntled fans took to social media to slam Ticketek for a “system glitch” that they claimed prevented them from buying tickets to Prince’s upcoming Piano & Microphone Tour, but Mr Hoy said there was no problem with the Ticketek website.

The Ticketek system can handle over 15,000 transactions at a time.

“The website was absolutely working — there were no glitches,” Mr Hoy said.

“We understand the fans are disappointed, we understand that frustration — it was a simple case of less tickets than demand.”

Tickets were also available for the tour from the Ticketmaster.com.au website, which appeared to have crashed.

Feb042016

Steven Tyler Judge A 'Skittles' Version Of Himself In Super Bowl 50 Advert

Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler is to star in a Skittles TV advert, which will be premiered during Super Bowl 50 this weekend.

In the video, Tyler is presented with a self-portrait made out of Skittles. As the work is unveiled, he vents his disgust, claiming "it looks nothing like me", before challenging the portrait to sing his trademark high notes on Aerosmith song 'Dream On'.

The ad is part of Skittles' "Root for the Rainbow" Super Bowl 50 campaign. If a rainbow appears in the sky on the day of the game, the company will give away 100,000 free packs of Skittles.

The Super Bowl, which takes place on Sunday, is among the biggest sporting events in the world with advertising space during the broadcast going at a premium.

Tyler is the latest musician to preview a commercial for the event, following today's earlier announcement that Drake would re-enact 'Hotline Bling' for a T-Mobile advert during the game.